Bayshann: Student Success Through Intelligent Engagement
Michelle Gillespie, Director Student Administration and Library Services at Swinburne University of Technology, Sendur Kathir, CEO“Will this University prepare me for the current business ecosystem and the real world?” is a pressing question weighing students down today, and finding a definite answer to it isn’t easy. According to modern-age students, success is defined by multiple factors, including personalized academic progression, better employment prospects and strong social connections. The age-old idea of College being merely a place to develop an area of technical expertise is long gone. It is so much more!
Focused on higher education and research, Melbourne-based Bayshann believes passionately in the role of education in shaping the lives of people. Embedding the latest digital technologies, such as cloud, mobility, location-based services, gamification, machine learning and analytics in its Connexus Student Engagement Platform, Bayshann delivers powerful student outcomes through simplicity and innovation. Sendur Kathir, the CEO of Bayshann, stresses, “Given the nature of work and growing demands from the modern-age workforce, students expect to continuously learn to stay up to date with the latest developments. Besides, students are gravitating toward more personalized means of learning, which align perfectly with their daily lives. As such, we take a holistic approach to viewing student success from their investment in higher education.”
Drawing on his rich experience, Kathir, an erudite in the field of education, who has formerly served as the Chief Information and Digital Officer at the University of Melbourne, has steered his company to success by setting a new benchmark in the realm of digital experience for students. He goes on to mention that all senior consultants at Bayshann hold extensive experience in the field of education, and are well-acquainted with what students consider success in an educational context.
Connexus: Driving Student Success through Innovation
“When it comes to initiating the first step in the convoluted process of entering a University, students begin with accepting their offer, choosing a particular course, following which they have to complete multiple forms, select their timetables and pay the requisite fees,” continues Kathir. The process is extremely cumbersome and time consuming from student experience and administrative perspectives. Bayshann’s Connexus Platform is specifically designed to unravel the complexities associated with higher education. While the traditional method of entering a university usually consumes long hours along with considerable manual intervention, with Connexus, the process is simple and seamless.
Connexus radically improves the experience by helping students access all the necessary information via mobile or web, and allows them to finish the process in mere minutes as opposed to hours.
The second dimension of the platform centers on academic progression, providing students with access to different avenues of support at the time of their need. Kathir mentions, “Students often feel that such support and help would have made a great deal of difference to them, if only they had access to them in the first/freshman year.” The good news is with Connexus, now it’s possible. Connexus achieves this by connecting students with mentors, peers and University support services at precisely the right time. It is the ability to recognize when students need support and proactively providing it, that sets Connexus apart.
Considering the fact that Universities typically make concerted efforts to provide various means of social engagement for students—be it in clubs or societies—to enrich the social aspect of their lives, connecting students with the University and each other is critical. Universities can better motivate students and get them involved with their curricula and other campus activities through the social aspects of Connexus. Through the use of machine learning and analytics, Connexus provides personalised social information to students on activities/events that are of interest to them, and not bombarding them with irrelevant information.
The fourth capability of Connexus is all about getting students career-ready. Kathir explains that while achieving a degree is of utmost importance to students, they are far more motivated and driven by the prospect of bagging a plum job once they finish their course. Connexus not only primes students to complete their degree successfully but also empowers them to build the capabilities and skills required to compete and reap the best employment opportunities. This is accomplished by identifying capabilities that employers value, such as teamwork, critical thinking and so forth, and building those capabilities in students through learning and doing activities. A gamified approach is implemented that motivates students to complete these vital capabilities for life after University.
Bolstered by the essential elements of student success, the Connexus platform is truly remolding the way student success is viewed in a holistic sense.
A Nexus of Intelligent Technologies
Complete with responsive web application and native mobile app user interfaces and purpose-built higher education processes, the Connexus Platform is designed from the student perspective, rather than University compliance and management point of view. By supporting the entire spectrum of business processes, all the way from facilitating entry to a University to enhancing career readiness of students, the robust platform unravels the complexities associated with accomplishing the various tasks and refines student experience in the process.
We take a holistic approach to viewing student success from their investment in higher education
Considering the fact that Universities typically make concerted efforts to provide various means of social engagement for students—be it in clubs or societies—to enrich the social aspect of their lives, connecting students with the University and each other is critical. Universities can better motivate students and get them involved with their curricula and other campus activities through the social aspects of Connexus. Through the use of machine learning and analytics, Connexus provides personalised social information to students on activities/events that are of interest to them, and not bombarding them with irrelevant information.
The fourth capability of Connexus is all about getting students career-ready. Kathir explains that while achieving a degree is of utmost importance to students, they are far more motivated and driven by the prospect of bagging a plum job once they finish their course. Connexus not only primes students to complete their degree successfully but also empowers them to build the capabilities and skills required to compete and reap the best employment opportunities. This is accomplished by identifying capabilities that employers value, such as teamwork, critical thinking and so forth, and building those capabilities in students through learning and doing activities. A gamified approach is implemented that motivates students to complete these vital capabilities for life after University.
Bolstered by the essential elements of student success, the Connexus platform is truly remolding the way student success is viewed in a holistic sense.
A Nexus of Intelligent Technologies
Complete with responsive web application and native mobile app user interfaces and purpose-built higher education processes, the Connexus Platform is designed from the student perspective, rather than University compliance and management point of view. By supporting the entire spectrum of business processes, all the way from facilitating entry to a University to enhancing career readiness of students, the robust platform unravels the complexities associated with accomplishing the various tasks and refines student experience in the process.
In addition, Bayshann has incorporated novel digital technologies in its platform, such as machine learning, gamification, chatbots, and more, to help students navigate the business processes through Connexus. “We have developed a set of deep, sophisticated integration points with traditional University systems, such as student management systems, and seamlessly integrated with the Universities’ IT environment.”
In terms of personalization, Bayshann has set a new benchmark with its platform, beefing up its capabilities with significant levels of personalization. The platform uses information from University systems, external data sources, beacons, CCTV feeds, and wireless devices to offer a highly personalized experience to students. “With Connexus in place, a University gets to know each student as an individual and can tailor the experience delivered to them based on a number of aspects—the unit of study, mode of study, their social interests, and their learning needs,” notes Kathir.
The comprehensive capabilities of Connexus can be further exemplified by Bayshann’s engagement with Swinburne University of Technology. The University was challenged with high drop-out rates and poor student experience owing to an exceedingly complicated entry process for students involving several hours of enrolling, timetabling, paying fees, and so on. Students were required to sift through multiple systems websites, and the entire process needed considerable manual intervention, which resulted in high costs of delivering the service. Michelle Gillespie, Director Student Administration and Library Services at Swinburne University of Technology says, “Our enrolment experience is extremely poor. It takes students too long to complete and is so confusing that many just give up, which is affecting our revenue. I have to typically hire casual staff to help students complete their enrolment, which is unsustainable.” Swinburne University of Technology has chosen to partner with Bayshann to implement its Connexus Platform to transform the student experience. Gillespie continues, “We found Bayshann’s Connexus solution the only digital platform that could deliver our transformational enrolment aspirations. It’s simple, intuitive, mobile enabled and fully integrated with our University’s systems.” Kathir and Gillespie agree that the solution being implemented is an industry first.
"With connexus in place, a university gets to know each student as an individual and can tailor the experience based on a number of aspects"
Kathir notes that traditional ERP-based student management systems typically deliver services that are not geared toward students’ needs, and thereby fail to render the kind of experience and outcomes they seek. He says, “Besides being intuitive and user-friendly, our solution accomplishes real-time integration with these traditional systems of record in Universities. While the record ends up in those systems, the entire student experience is orchestrated in our platform.”
Currently focused on Australia, Bayshann has plans to bring the benefits of its platform to the Asian market. Bayshann aspires to expand beyond Universities to tap into new opportunities in the Australian Technical and Further Education (TAFEs) space, another form of higher education. Sprinting ahead with full steam, Bayshann is taking the student engagement game a notch higher and intends to continue delivering exceptional student experience to better attract and retain students.
In terms of personalization, Bayshann has set a new benchmark with its platform, beefing up its capabilities with significant levels of personalization. The platform uses information from University systems, external data sources, beacons, CCTV feeds, and wireless devices to offer a highly personalized experience to students. “With Connexus in place, a University gets to know each student as an individual and can tailor the experience delivered to them based on a number of aspects—the unit of study, mode of study, their social interests, and their learning needs,” notes Kathir.
The comprehensive capabilities of Connexus can be further exemplified by Bayshann’s engagement with Swinburne University of Technology. The University was challenged with high drop-out rates and poor student experience owing to an exceedingly complicated entry process for students involving several hours of enrolling, timetabling, paying fees, and so on. Students were required to sift through multiple systems websites, and the entire process needed considerable manual intervention, which resulted in high costs of delivering the service. Michelle Gillespie, Director Student Administration and Library Services at Swinburne University of Technology says, “Our enrolment experience is extremely poor. It takes students too long to complete and is so confusing that many just give up, which is affecting our revenue. I have to typically hire casual staff to help students complete their enrolment, which is unsustainable.” Swinburne University of Technology has chosen to partner with Bayshann to implement its Connexus Platform to transform the student experience. Gillespie continues, “We found Bayshann’s Connexus solution the only digital platform that could deliver our transformational enrolment aspirations. It’s simple, intuitive, mobile enabled and fully integrated with our University’s systems.” Kathir and Gillespie agree that the solution being implemented is an industry first.
"With connexus in place, a university gets to know each student as an individual and can tailor the experience based on a number of aspects"
Kathir notes that traditional ERP-based student management systems typically deliver services that are not geared toward students’ needs, and thereby fail to render the kind of experience and outcomes they seek. He says, “Besides being intuitive and user-friendly, our solution accomplishes real-time integration with these traditional systems of record in Universities. While the record ends up in those systems, the entire student experience is orchestrated in our platform.”
Currently focused on Australia, Bayshann has plans to bring the benefits of its platform to the Asian market. Bayshann aspires to expand beyond Universities to tap into new opportunities in the Australian Technical and Further Education (TAFEs) space, another form of higher education. Sprinting ahead with full steam, Bayshann is taking the student engagement game a notch higher and intends to continue delivering exceptional student experience to better attract and retain students.
November 26, 2019
